LC-M moves into second with win over Vidor

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LC-M moves into second with win over Vidor

Van Wade

The Orange Leader

VIDOR — It took a game for the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears to get warmed up Tuesday night at Vidor's Pirate Gym but once they got going it was smooth sailing.

After struggling early in Game One, the Lady Bears scrapped back to take the game as they went on to cruise past the Vidor Lady Pirates 25-21, 25-18, 25-11 in District 22-4A volleyball action.

The victory puts the Lady Bears (15-12, 5-2) in a second place tie in the 22-4A standings at the conclusion of the first half of district play after Beaumont Central defeated Beaumont Ozen Tuesday.

The Lady Pirates (0-7 in district) played tough throughout but ran out of steam late in Game Two. Senior Morgan Blohm had an outstanding night for the Lady Bears at the net. Blohm collected 10 kills and a whopping six blocks and also had six points and three aces.

“Morgan played a super match,†said LC-M coach Vicki Castino. “Everyone set her up with those short sets and she was just killing it.â€

Sophomore Christine Sicktich had her normal strong outing hitting the ball by nabbing nine kills but it was her service game that provided an even bigger spark Tuesday as she had 13 service points while pounding out five aces.

Jordyn Davis added to the LC-M power surge with nine kills. Libero Shayna Sheppard served up 12 points and three aces. The Lady Bears also received a huge performance from senior Olivia Hinds off the bench as Hinds poured out 11 points and three aces.

“Olivia is such a trooper,†said Castino. “She has played so well off the bench for us lately and I couldn't be more happier for her. Her serve has been just awesome but her defense was big tonight. She made some tough digs.â€

The Lady Pirates were paced by the nice hitting of Mianda Rider, who found her way to eight kills. Hailey Acosta and Brooke Friedeck had six kills apiece while Alexa Kelly added five.

Meghin Crawford led the Lady Pirates' service game with seven points and an ace while Emalee Kennon contributed six points.

The Lady Pirats broke open an 8-8 game in Game One by scoring 11 of the next 14 points behind the serve of Crawford and the attacking of Friedeck to go up19-11.

However, the Lady Bears zoomed right back behind the strong serve of Sicktich, who served up nine straight points, including four aces as the Lady Bears went on a 10-0 spurt to go up 21-19. Vidor rallied to tie it up at 21-21 but the Lady Bears closd it out with a kill apiece from Blohm and Davis.

Game Two was nip-and-tuck most of the way. LC-M jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but the Lady Pirates rose up to eventually tie it at 18-18. That's when Hinds lit a spark in her Lady Bears. The senior served up the game's last seven points. She had three of her aces in the run and came up with two critical digs on the back row.

Blohm, Sicktich and Davis ignited a"power show" for the Lady Bears in Game Three, teaming up for seven kills in a row that increased a 9-5 lead into a 16-5 cushion and the Lady Bears never looked back from that point.

“This district is so tough this year and we knew Vidor wasn't going to make it easy for us,†Castino said. “They (Vidor) took PN-G to four games and almost five. We wanted to come out and start off good and we really didn't. That almost got us In trouble against Lumberton last Friday. Once we’got going though, I thought we played really well overall as a team.â€

The Lady Bears will head to Beaumont Central Friday in another pivotal District 22-4A encounter while the Lady Pirates will welcome the Nederland Lady Bulldogs.